Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

This was the book that everyone had read but me. And now I have read it, and I am here to say I loved it. The plot of "Hello Beautiful," and the way it makes you fall in love with the characters is difficult to quantify because it is so rich and layered. It is a family saga that takes place in Evanston, with its ties to the Northwestern campus. This is a very personal place for me and my family, so that added another dimension to the narrative about the town set on the lake. Once I went to college there in the fall of 1982, I never wanted to leave. This story follows the path of Northwestern student William Waters as he meets and then marries a fellow student named Julia Padavano. In marrying Julia, however he is not just marrying a single woman, but rather the entire Padavano family that includes her parents and her three younger sisters. William gets to know each sister including the bookish Sylvia, the artistic Cecelia, and the maternal Emeline. William is thrilled to be welcomed into such a warm family because his own parents neglected and abandoned him. But his past soon haunts him, and bleeds into his marriage. The rift between William and Julia spreads throughout the Padavano family like a wildfire. The challenge is whether they can find their way back to one and another, or whether they will remain a fractured family forever. I was so sad when this book ended, and only wished I could follow the tales of the sisters on and on. To buy this book on Amazon click here.